Volume 6 Chapter 89 Lady Uno’s Indulgence
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”Hiroshi!!”
Uno’s voice suddenly rang out, sharp and excited, as she watched the anime intently. It was almost endearing—how unabashedly she threw herself into it.
The others, by now thoroughly accustomed to these outbursts, had developed an almost impervious tolerance toward anime. Even during the most melodramatic, tear-jerking scenes, they could see right through the producers’ cheap emotional ploys. Nothing moved them anymore.
But Uno—pure and honest—was the exact opposite. She was simply soaking it all in, no defenses, no cynicism. Everyone else watched her with amused smiles, their eyes quietly tracing each twitch of her face.
I, meanwhile, felt a little out of place. This wasn’t exactly the right time to be wasting on anime, was it? There were bigger, more pressing things we should be dealing with.
But… well, maybe it was fine for today. I couldn’t bring myself to miss out on Uno’s countless expressions, anyway.
Hmm… Even though there was probably a mountain of anime yet to be seen, Ms. Shirakaba seemed to be zeroing in on titles that had earned a good reputation among the otherworlders. Since everyone here already knew the infamous tearjerker moments, perhaps they were enjoying watching Uno’s reactions more than the actual screen?
Sure enough, it’s a thrill when their faces match what you expect, and a little disappointing when their reactions fall flat. I guess that’s one way to appreciate anime.
I wonder what it looks like from the gods’ vantage point—those silent peepers above us. Are they impatiently thinking, “Enough with this old stuff. Show us the new work already.”
Uno continued watching, potato chips in hand, tears streaming down her cheeks. Being a dragon, she could keep eating indefinitely without gaining an ounce.
Surely this was drawing some attention up there in the heavens. Maybe the gods were finally inching toward approving potato cultivation?
No, that’s dangerous thinking. I have to make it clear that potato chips come from—potatoes.
Looks like I’m going to have to cook it myself to prove the point. If I’m at it, might as well make some French fries and jacket potatoes too.
And a combo of potato salad and teriyaki quail? That’s downright cheating.
All about potatoes, huh… Funny how they’re so versatile, yet some countries consider them a staple food.
Suddenly, Uno’s voice cut through again, slightly defensive.
”Why aren’t you all crying? Nyo?”
Ah, so she’d finally noticed.
”Lady Uno,” I said, trying to keep my tone gentle, “everyone here’s basically family. You don’t have to force yourself to act dignified, okay?”
”Don’t tell me you’re trying to sound all high and mighty with that ‘nyo’ at the end?” I wondered silently. Was this some weird new phase or game she was playing?
”No, no, this is just… normal talking… nyo?” She tilted her head thoughtfully. “Hmm, maybe ‘ojaru’ would have been better? Family, you say? What does family mean? Ah! Does that mean everyone here is Saburou’s wife?”
Everyone being called a wife was a word with some serious weight.
”No, Lady Uno. That’s definitely not the case,” I said firmly.
”Me neither,” Ms. Claire and Ms. Nina chimed in immediately, shooting daggers with their eyes. That stung a bit too.
Uno, meanwhile, was undeterred, diving headfirst into wild territory.
”A homunculus for the centaur tribe, huh? You should shed your childish attachments. I’ll grant you the blessing of the dragon. You could bear children across racial boundaries… yes, indeed.”
She was acting downright outrageous. But since Claire and Nina didn’t protest, was it really that bad? Maybe they just felt overwhelmed by her sheer force of will.
”Now that you are family,” Uno declared with authority, “you better listen to what I say! I won’t bore you with stuff like ‘first wife’ or ‘concubine,’ but you must respect your elders. After all, we seniors have lived longer!”
”Yes, Senior Uno! So cute and precious…” Ms. Shirakaba cooed, flattering her shamelessly.
Uno, of course, got even more carried away with the praise.
Sigh. Looks like I’m the one who has to get the meal ready.
* * *
The potato feast was a massive hit. Seriously, is potato salad the ultimate weapon? I’d added Japanese mayo, soy sauce, and even mirin for that umami kick. It wasn’t just good—it was divine.
I wondered if the gods themselves had blessed Uno, who was practically bouncing in excitement over how delicious it was. She was already an incredibly strong being, so maybe the blessing was just a margin of error for her.
”I want cola! I like it. Make a lot of it, okay?” Uno demanded, eyes gleaming.
After the meal, she dropped another unreasonable request. I had brought back tons of recipes that might prove useful in another world. There was a way to make a cola-like drink, but it required a mountain of spices and sugar—not exactly cheap or easy.
Maybe I could try brewing it with the Sabroa Dukedom’s specialty syrup and ginger candy? It wasn’t cola exactly, but it had its own unique deliciousness.
Well, I’d stocked enough cola to fill several trucks, so we were covered for a while. If I got in touch with my uncle in Japan, I could probably arrange for more. He was probably worried about me, so I needed to set up that transfer Magic Formation soon.
”I think I’ll go down the river tomorrow. But first, I have to head to the town with the teleportation gate,” I told them.
”Eh, I want to rest a bit more. I want to watch more anime-noja,” Uno replied, flopping onto a cushion.
Has “no ja” become her catchphrase now? It wasn’t exactly dignified. She should probably take some cues from Ms. Hóa.
”It’s okay. I anticipated this, so I repaired this derelict ship. We’ll just go down the river as is,” I said.
The keel was intact; it just needed some steel plates to seal the leaks. Iron from Earth was ridiculously cheap, so I’d brought tens of thousands of tons with me. It was the stuff that Bro Jirou’s trading company had bought and left exposed abroad—now a lump of red rust—but still a bargain compared to iron ore.
When I floated the derelict ship off the reef, it sat lightly on the water. The rudder didn’t work well, so I supported it with an invisible hand and let it drift down the river’s current.
”What? I’m disappointed. Isn’t a shiny battleship supposed to pop out from inside a decayed ship?” Uno said with a pout.
”Ah, was that what you wanted?” I asked with a smirk.
It was totally possible to make the entire hull out of iron. On Earth, that was the norm now. Honestly, I was more comfortable handling iron than wood. Iron had its own charm, like high-tensile strength steel.
The women all retreated to watch anime. I was left alone on deck.
* * *
After all that, I finally returned to my own castle in the Sabroa Dukedom just after the winter solstice.
Afterward, I got caught up in the war between the Antfolk nation and the Amazon Kingdom, reunited with the Professors who’d been exiled, and had quite a few adventures. But honestly, most of the time, everyone was just glued to anime.
They helped out only when they felt like it. Ms. Shirakaba was way too strong, Ms. Nina was stiff as ever, and Tizzy healed constantly. The blessings of the gods had really stacked up.
I figured it was probably for the best that Uno and Frapatica didn’t interfere with the human world. It’d be like bringing nuclear weapons to a children’s fight. Unless a demon lord showed up—which was terrifying—there’d be no need for that kind of power.
There were also a few suspicious characters sniffing around my business, who made good playmates for Yakou. Thanks to that, I’d somewhat uncovered the true identity of the so-called inner sanctum. They seemed to manipulate great temples and emperors from behind the scenes—but they didn’t seem like gods. If it was a human-made organization, we should be able to handle it.
”I won’t return to the valley until I’ve finished watching all the anime,” Uno boldly declared to the spirits who came to pick her up from the Valley of Trials.
That was bad. If the Valley stayed closed like this, it might end up closing for good.
I had no choice but to set up a generator and a full AV system at the Valley of Trials. Since Uno seemed to have properly learned Japanese, it should be fine even without Ms. Shirakaba. Well, if she’d watched that much anime.
While I was at it, I sorted through the supplies I’d brought from Japan. While dividing souvenirs, Uno managed to swipe a ton of cola. Obviously. Uno had the magic bag too.
”I can’t make cola. Even if I drink it carefully, one day the cola will run out,” she said.
It was a silly line, but when an ancient dragon in the form of a beautiful girl says it, it somehow sounds profound.
Indeed, it was a tough problem. Time here flowed ridiculously fast. One day in the outside world meant hundreds, maybe thousands, of years here.
Ah, and the AV equipment wouldn’t last decades either.
Uno and the others had been here so long. Depending on your view, this could be a prison. I guess I had to overlook their having a little fun outside.
Honestly, I should stay here and spend a long time without getting bored. After all, I was a husband.
But they say it’s better when the husband is healthy and away. From the husband’s perspective, that was a harsh truth.
”I just thought of a good idea. We should adopt a break system in the Valley of Trials,” I said.
”If we go play in the outside world, a long vacation will end in an instant,” Exceneca said with a sharp tsukkomi.
”So what do we do? What should we do?” Uno looked genuinely troubled.
”Would a complete two-day weekend be bad? Based on the outside world, we could operate the dungeon for five days and take two days off,” I suggested.
”That’s it! If we’re going to do it, let’s make it so that after one day of work, we take three days off. It’s not that I’m lazy, okay? That one day is really long,” Uno protested.
If we could properly notify adventurers, having just one day of operation a month would be rare—and good. But since there was no calendar here, “a month” didn’t really mean anything.
”Oh, we could also operate only on the day of the summer solstice or winter solstice,” I said.
Even without the Stargazer, that day could be known. Some regions even celebrated festivals then. Especially the summer solstice—it coincided with the harvest season of wall barley.
”That… really is good. Genius. Let’s adjust to operate only on the day of the summer solstice. If you can’t clear it in one day, you’re disqualified,” Uno said, her eyes shining.
It took me several days to think it over. That method was pretty unreasonable, so maybe imposing a time limit would be more interesting.
”We could set business hours from sunrise to sunset on the summer solstice and make the crystal at the dungeon entrance glow,” I added.
”There was something like that in an anime. A red lantern?” Uno asked.
”No, I’ll design it. Just making it glow with a spell is easy,” I said.
I really wanted to avoid having a red lantern in a fantasy dungeon. Would that count as innovative here?
”If it’s just one day a year, won’t it be way too crowded?” Exceneca asked, practically managing the Valley of Trials dungeon.
True, even though it was a bit underpopulated, sometimes there were wait lines to enter.
”We need a ticket system. How about preparing seven orbs and scattering them around the world every year?” I proposed.
”Sounds good. Ancient dragon orbs, huh,” Uno smiled.
”In that case, six orbs: fire, water, wind, earth, light, and darkness. It might be good to partner with another dungeon and mix dragon orbs into the clear rewards,” I joked half-seriously.
I ended up making an orb. If it wasn’t used as an admission ticket, I’d have to come up with a way for it to disappear after a year.
Hmm, maybe I should make the clear reward for the Valley of Trials dungeon a bit more luxurious. But no, that wasn’t the important part.
”The Valley of Trials is a training ground for spirits, right? Is fighting only six times a year really enough?” I asked.
Uno looked away, embarrassed.
”I-I-I’m fine, okay?” she said.
”Okay?” I repeated.
Recently, Uno used “okay” like that when trying to dodge tough questions.
”Training is about quality over quantity! Even Yakou is growing rapidly. A new kind of hunting that doesn’t stick to dungeons… uh, what was it? Karyu?”
”Curriculum?” I guessed.
”Yes, that’s it! Let’s go with that,” Uno said confidently.
I didn’t really understand dungeons, so if Uno decided, I’d support it.
We’d need the key orb and a gate that opens and closes with it, but as a magic tool, that was a pretty basic gimmick.
Inside the dungeon, we could make placed objects indestructible. The only focus was on the appearance.
Using Japanese-made oil clay, I shaped ideas as they came to mind. It was really good for sculpting and easy to use—I planned to share some with Schulz next time we met.
Simply put, it was just a rock wall kind of thing. Like Rodin’s Gates of Hell, full of reliefs, very RPG-like with holes for the orb.
”Hmm, they all look good. This is going to be tough to choose,” Uno said.
”This dragon relief is wonderful, Lady Uno,” Exceneca complimented.
”Lady Uno, this gate feels the most dignified,” Another said with a smile.
Ahaha, even just choosing was hard—but that was good. Since we had time here, no need to rush. The best part was discussing it together. Outside, we couldn’t afford that luxury.
That’s right—we should just take the best parts. When we want to relax, everyone should come here. It’d be ideal if there was a teleportation gate that went directly here.
Then… should I just make it myself?
Teleportation gates were a type of magic tool. I roughly understood the principles and structure. There was even a moving example.
It probably wouldn’t be easy to reproduce, but if I researched for a hundred years—well, here, a hundred years was like a day outside. Plus, there were plenty of excellent advisors.
Things that people in the past could create, I should be able to as well. Even if I couldn’t, I’d gain a lot from researching teleportation gates. I was fired up.
I had to finish before the stock of cola and chips ran out, or Uno would be noisy. I also needed to research substitutes that could be made here and place an order for cola to my uncle in Japan.
Since the gate to another world was a type of teleportation gate, I might as well research them together.
* * *
”The wall to another world? Ah, that’s a hassle. The spirits seem fine though.”
Exceneca’s voice carried a quiet melancholy, a soft sadness lingering in her words as she looked toward the strange barrier.
”Is it a wall or a filter… Are the spirits really okay with it?” I asked, narrowing my eyes as I watched her carefully.
”The nature of souls must be different. I’ve never seen those countless black orbs blocking the way before.”
She spoke gently, almost wistfully. What is a soul, I wondered again—something I feel I understand, yet truly don’t.
Could it be that the spirits don’t even perceive those black spheres—like floating mines in the void? Or perhaps they’re simply following a different route.
When the spirits go far beyond, they pass through the spirit world itself—the Elemental Plane. Its principles are probably fundamentally different from this teleportation gate.
I can only reach the very surface of the Elemental Plane. Even Uno can’t dive into its depths. They say there are entire worlds below—some feel like heaven, some like hell.
A drunken artist once glimpsed the depths of the spirit world in a dream and painted it as a hellish scene. Later, a religious person interpreted it through their doctrine and spread it far and wide. When the collective unconscious forms ideas of heaven and hell, it reflects back into the spirit world.
It’s a vicious cycle. A chicken and egg problem.
”If it can be drawn, it means someone has seen the real thing. That’s why anime characters exist.”
Uno suddenly spoke up with a grin.
This was bad. Uno was starting to spout nonsense again.
”No, robot anime is impossible in reality,” I said firmly.
”That’s a golem,” Uno replied, unfazed.
”What about space opera?”
”Spaceships used to fly around quite a bit.”
”Guh, then what about romcoms?”
”Real-life people in relationships exist. Probably.”
I sighed. Sometimes little kids can’t tell anime from reality. But Uno—ancient dragon Uno—has lived longer than human history. They say the older you get, the more you revert to childhood.
Well, it’s harmless enough. I wouldn’t want to shatter Uno’s dreams. Besides, it’s kind of interesting. So I’ll just watch over it warmly, quietly amused.
Notes:
• Shirakaba – A paladin who seems to be a skilled fighter. He’s introduced as someone with a strong defense and healing abilities.
• Ms. Claire – 22-year-old centaur attendant to Joa, with a chestnut horse body and wavy hair. Level 18 mounted archer. Recently enslaved, retains her own will. Her bow skills are sealed due to subservience. Bought by the protagonist as a companion, alongside Joa
• Ms. Nina – Doll Princess (Auroora 217), renamed by the protagonist. Beautiful blonde, ~168 cm, slim waist. Wears adventurer attire. Made from artificial parts and wooden limbs, resembling a princess. Knowledgeable, can read, write, and use basic healing magic. Reliable partner, often saves the protagonist with her skills.
• Nina – Doll Princess (Auroora 217), renamed by the protagonist. Beautiful blonde, ~168 cm, slim waist. Wears adventurer attire. Made from artificial parts and wooden limbs, resembling a princess. Knowledgeable, can read, write, and use basic healing magic. Reliable partner, often saves the protagonist with her skills.
• Jirou – Male. Saburou’s other older brother. He is a shady businessman with a villainous look. He is more understanding of Saburou’s experiences in another world due to his exposure to light novels and anime. He is also tight-lipped, which makes him a good confidant for Saburou’s secrets.
• Tizzy – Claims to be Duke’s daughter, a noble with advanced magic skills. MC and Ms. Shirakaba lover.
• Frapatica – Advanced Fire Spirit, brown skin, fiery red hair, striking red leather bikini armor, youthful beneath a mature appearance, Edo-girl speaking style, kind, offers her name as a sign of trust
• Yakou – A newly created kunoichi spirit with high specs from Mubiel. She pledges loyalty to the Narrator as her ‘Lord Shogun’ and seeks to punish villains.
• Exceneca – Lady Uno’s butler girl
• Schulz – A male dragon who collects human women and holds the rank of Duke within the Anti-Magic Alliance.
• El – She is a giant woman, appeared as Saburou’s captor, living alone in a large tent, skilled in hunting and cooking, proposes marriage to Saburou.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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